


Skinny Dipping on Risa

by Chesari



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Comedy, Coming Out, Crack Pairing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-21
Updated: 2011-05-21
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chesari/pseuds/Chesari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bashir and Quark have a conversation. While they're skinny dipping. On Risa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skinny Dipping on Risa

**Author's Note:**

> Set during DS9 5x07 "Let He Who Is Without Sin", contains some degree of spoilage through 5x16 "Doctor Bashir, I Presume". These (paraphrased) lines of dialogue actually really occurred in canon - Quark: "I say we head up into the hills and go skinny dipping in the hot springs." Bashir: "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Quark." And thus my brain had a fic idea. I don't even know. *raises eyebrow at brain, perplexed*

Julian averts his gaze as Quark climbs into the hot spring. It's nothing he hasn't seen before - one of the more dubious benefits of being the station's CMO is that he knows what most of the long-term residents look like naked. Yearly physicals are part of the job, and of course there are sometimes injuries or illnesses that require a patient to disrobe for examination. He's not on the job now, though, and he'd rather not be reminded of it. Besides, without medical necessity, it would be rude to look.

Quark apparently has no similar compunctions. He whistles when Julian abandons his towel and watches with open admiration as Julian lowers his body into the spring. "Not bad, Doctor. Not bad at all."

"Oh, shut it," Julian says affably, only a little embarrassed. "I know perfectly well you're interested in women."

"Well of course I like women," Quark says. "I appreciate beauty in all its forms." He smiles, showing his teeth.

Julian is starting to get a bad feeling, as if he were naked in a hot spring with an amorous Ferengi. "But you've never shown any indication of liking men," he protests. "You flirt with women nonstop, but men - never that I've seen."

Quark waves one hand in a noncommittal gesture. "Certain things a man keeps to himself. Same-sex relations are not exactly, ah, accepted in Ferengi society. Well, the females can do whatever they want, and some men will pay good money to see it. But two males?" He shakes his head. "Different story."

"Ah," Julian says, wondering how to extricate himself from this situation. Quark can be horribly persistent when he's attracted to someone. Dax complains about his behavior to Julian now and then, and rumor has it that Kira actually punched him on one occasion. Best to nip this problem in the bud. "Well, er... Thank you, but the answer is no."

Much to his relief, Quark just shrugs and says, "Suit yourself," and then is silent.

Julian sighs and tilts his head back to gaze at the stars. There's a cool, fragrant breeze blowing in from the east, and the contrast between the night air and the warm, soothing water is heavenly. Risa truly is heaven, in a sense. It's a paradise suited to nearly every sentient species in the quadrant, and now that that mess with the New Essentialists is over, the whole planet is back to basking in unending bliss. If there is an afterlife, he certainly wouldn't mind it being like this. The only way it could be better were if Miles were here to keep him company -

"Saving yourself for the chief, I take it."

It takes him a moment to understand. He whips around, splashing, and stares at Quark in horror. "Mi-" He stops, corrects himself. "Chief O'Brien and I are not an item! For God's sake, he's married!"

"Marriage doesn't stop most hu-mons," Quark says, grinning like the lecherous little troll he is.

"You are appalling."

"Oh come on! Don't try to tell me you two have never had sex. You rent a holosuite from me every week, sometimes twice a week."

"Those are HISTORICAL BATTLES," Julian bellows.

His expression must have been frightening to behold, because Quark jumps about a half meter. He finds that reaction immensely satisfying.

"Huh," Quark says. "Well. No wonder O'Brien gets so grumpy sometimes."

"I would imagine," Julian grinds out, "that that has to do with his WIFE being off the station."

"I would imagine it's both." Quark is watching him warily, perhaps worried that he may become violent. "You know he's got it bad for you. You have to know. An Aenar could see it."

"Aenar are telepathic."

Quark scoffs. "You know what I mean."

Come to think of it, Miles is very affectionate toward him, in his own gruff, standoffish sort of way. He even made a backhanded confession of love once. Granted, they were both drunk and sentimental at the time. But it was odd that Miles couldn't just admit it, had to dance around the subject instead...

He shouldn't even be thinking about this. Miles is married.

"You can put that particular fantasy to rest," he tells Quark. "He's completely loyal to Keiko. Wild horses couldn't drag them apart."

"No reason he couldn't have you both," Quark murmurs. Julian glares daggers at him, and he hastily adds, "But I guess some people don't like to share."

That's quite true, and it would make an excellent place to end this disturbing interchange. Somehow, though, Julian doubts that Quark has finished talking. He sighs and tries to appreciate this brief moment of peace.

"So," Quark says. "Garak?"

Julian pinches the bridge of his nose. "No, not Garak either. I can't believe I'm having this conversation. And with you, of all people."

"You obviously need to have this conversation, since you couldn't even tell that O'Brien's in love with you. Garak, now..." Quark locks his fingers behind his head and leans back, staring off into the distance. "Garak is harder to pin down. He might love you, or he might hate you. The only thing I'm sure about is that he's more interested in you than he is in most people. Hard to tell whether it's sexual either."

"I can tell you it's not hatred," Julian says. He's not going to touch that comment about Miles, but Garak at least is single. He's handsome too, and if circumstances were different, Julian could see himself falling for the Cardassian.

"Then what is it?"

He considers whether it's wise to be honest with Quark. He could just tell the Ferengi to mind his own business. It's a bit of a personal subject - but he doesn't really mind talking about it, and he can't see how any harm could come of telling the truth in this instance.

"I think he is attracted to me," he says, "and if so the feeling is mutual. I haven't pursued him, though, not in that sense."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure I want to be that close to him. I used to want to know all his secrets, but now... I'm certain he did some terrible things for the Obsidian Order. If I knew what they were, I might not be able to remain friends with him, let alone lovers." And that's to say nothing of Julian's own secrets. He's been lying about being a normal person for so long that it's almost turned true, and the last thing he needs is to give a former intelligence operative reason to probe into his past. More reason than he already has, at any rate.

"Makes sense," Quark muses. "I'll spare you the rumors I've heard. But it seems like a waste not to even try. Don't your people have a saying, 'Better to have loved and lost'? And mine would tell you that the riskier the road, the greater the profit."

"Oh, you're one to talk about being true to oneself. I'd wager no one on the station has guessed that you have any interest in men. You play it that close."

"Point taken." Quark grins and sidles closer to Julian. "So no love from Garak or O'Brien, and now none from Leeta either... You must be lonely."

Julian removes an orange, blue-nailed hand from the nape of his neck and says pointedly, "Not THAT lonely."

"You don't know what you're missing," Quark sniffs. "I bet you've never had a lover as experienced as I am."

That's probably true, and Julian would prefer not to ponder the fact that Quark gets more attention from women than he does. Not from other men, though. "And just how much experience do you have with men?"

"No comment."

"Oh, I see. Let the naive young human prattle on about his innermost feelings, but far be it from YOU to reveal anything personal."

Quark snorts, but doesn't say anything.

"Your pick-up technique is atrocious," Julian says, deliberately needling him. "There's not a man in the galaxy who'd fall for that."

"Won't matter once we get back to the station," Quark says darkly.

"Oh? You're going to hide your homosexual urges under a rock again?"

"Oh, sure, judge the Ferengi!" Quark snaps. "You Federation types all love that game. Look, I'm already a pariah, and if this gets out I'll never get my business license back."

Julian's last question was too harsh, really. He's used to people being open about their sexuality, but Quark does have good reason to hide that aspect of himself. Which is a bit tragic, now that he thinks about it.

"I'm not going to out you or blackmail you, Quark, if that's what you're worried about," he says. "We 'Federation types' don't condemn others for who they choose to partner with. Which is not to say that we're perfectly non-judgmental. I'll admit, there's a lot about Ferengi culture that I can't stomach. From the sounds of it, it's no picnic for you either."

Quark tugs at one lobe, looking away from Julian. Finally he mutters, "Yeah, I didn't think you'd make a big deal out of it. If you must know, I've kept it to the holosuites up until now. Thought I'd try my hand."

Well, that admission casts things in a different light. If he's the first man Quark has ever made advances toward - he's not sure what to make of that.

"Don't you start feeling sorry for me," Quark says, eyeing him with suspicion. "And don't get me wrong, women are fantastic. If female companionship is all I get, I can live with that."

That last sentence rang false, and Julian decides it's worth picking at. Not to torment Quark, but if he's lying to himself, that simply isn't healthy.

"Women aren't like men, though," he says. "There are advantages to having a more muscular lover, and to one's lover having similar equipment." A particular Vulcan in his year at the Academy comes to mind, and he lets himself smile, remembering. Experimentation had indeed been logical, and he will forever bless Vulcan curiosity for gifting him with that set of encounters. "A strong pair of arms, a well-muscled back... And it's different being with someone who's your match in size, or even larger." Although Quark would probably be used to that. He's shorter than half the women on DS9.

"Don't talk like that unless you're going to put out," Quark grouses.

Julian laughs. He can't help it. This has to be the most... UNEXPECTED conversation he's ever had. The one about why Surak would approve of testing one's sexual preferences scientifically is a close second, but this one takes the cake.

Quark remains quiet, sulking perhaps. Julian hopes he hasn't taken the laughter as an insult, but really, if Quark wants to brood over his love life or lack thereof, it's not Julian's responsibility to pull him out of it. Some introspection on that subject might do him good, actually.

He stretches and leans back, looking up at the stars again, and lets his mind wander to memories of Taurik. Those dark, fathomless eyes, and that wry wit, so subtle that Julian sometimes didn't catch it until minutes later... and the press of an impossibly strong, solid body against his own, and the press of an inquisitive mind against his. Too bad that he'd had to call off the meld, once he remembered that he had secrets to keep.

Voices drift up the hill, far away, but they seem to be getting closer. Julian listens carefully, and if he's not mistaken he can make out footsteps too. He glances at Quark, who has better hearing - he's watching the path they climbed to get here, and that confirms it. They're about to have company.

Two utterly gorgeous Risian men crest the hill, limned in light from the lamps along the path. They're clad only in towels - hand towels, by all appearances. They're barely covered to mid-thigh. The shorter of the pair, a young man with dusky skin and a mane of messy, sun-bleached curls, flashes a smile at Julian as he passes by.

Well. If Julian wants to avoid embarrassment, he's going to have to stay in the water for a while longer.

Quark is watching with rapt attention as the two men walk away, and Julian spies an opportunity. If nothing else, this may get the Ferengi's mind off of Julian himself.

He whispers to Quark, "This is Risa. No one's going to judge you, and I certainly won't tell."

Quark cocks his head to one side, still staring uphill at the men's receding figures. Then he moves abruptly, scrambling out of the hot spring at warp speed.

Julian averts his gaze. One tawdry discussion of sex is not going to make him forget his manners.

"Bashir?" He looks up - Quark has his towel on now, and he's holding the two _horga'hn_ that he brought with him. He sets one of the statuettes down at the edge of the hot spring and grins at Julian. "The one with the curly hair is all yours."

Julian watches, speechless, as Quark turns and scurries off after the Risians.

He could follow them, he supposes. There's really no reason not to. If he ends up in bed with that curly-haired fellow, he may never be able to look at Miles the same way again - but, to be honest, that ship sailed when Quark made his first comment about the chief.

Nothing to stop him, then. He smiles and hauls himself out of the water.


End file.
